We recently had an addition built onto our main building. The room is done, the electric is all set up, but none of the data or telephone cables have been run. It is about 100-150' from the server room to the new addition, and I have no clue as to how to go about running data and telephone lines. I did find some old invoices from a local company that apparently did this kind of thing for us in the past during a redesign of our building. Should I be even attempting to do this stuff myself, or just call in the professionals?

It all depends do you have the time to learn how to create the cables, which if you are running through plenum spaces in your building will need to also have plenum rated cabling because they are fire retardant. Also the installers have the gear to make these longer runs, do you? None of this is beyond your ability to do, it's just a matter of time.

For me personally unless I am told to do it, I bid the job out to 2 or 3 cabling companies and have them do it while I focus on other pieces to the project.

When you say you have no clue as to how to go about running data and telephone lines, I think you answered the question yourself.

I'm in the same situation, we just built a new building and I don't have the time to be running data/phone lines. I looked around and got quotes from a few companies, that way if something isn't right I'll make them come back and fix it.

I would go for a professional company. Most electric companies also do low voltage when they install the power in the buildings. This way, the cables are ran correctly and away from any electrical interference.

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Agreed. When it comes down to it those who do the cabling in local areas often know the laws and permits and such. Plus then you can focus on your stuff rather than cabling! (No one likes to get dirty and sweaty pulling cable all day)

It all depends do you have the time to learn how to create the cables, which if you are running through plenum spaces in your building will need to also have plenum rated cabling because they are fire retardant. Also the installers have the gear to make these longer runs, do you? None of this is beyond your ability to do, it's just a matter of time.

For me personally unless I am told to do it, I bid the job out to 2 or 3 cabling companies and have them do it while I focus on other pieces to the project.

Wow, thanks for all the advice so quick guys! I think at the very least we will have a company or two come out and give us estimates, and give some info on what they will be doing, and I can talk to them about local laws and such that are in place, whether I am even allowed to do this (like if I would need to be certified, which I certainly am not), and go from there.

It kind of sucks because I don't think my boss included this kind of thing into our initial estimate, and the cost of this addition is being covered by a grant, so I don't know if we even have money in that grant left over.

Wow, thanks for all the advice so quick guys! I think at the very least we will have a company or two come out and give us estimates, and give some info on what they will be doing, and I can talk to them about local laws and such that are in place, whether I am even allowed to do this (like if I would need to be certified, which I certainly am not), and go from there.

It kind of sucks because I don't think my boss included this kind of thing into our initial estimate, and the cost of this addition is being covered by a grant, so I don't know if we even have money in that grant left over.

If you don't have the money to have an outsider guy do it for you, see if they will do 'consulting' for a lot less, so you can do the runs and they can just check your work. This would really be mostly if you had laws/permits/compliance to deal with.

It kind of sucks because I don't think my boss included this kind of thing into our initial estimate, and the cost of this addition is being covered by a grant, so I don't know if we even have money in that grant left over.

IT needs to be consulted on this kind of stuff yet that rarely happens. I was doing some work for a private school and they built a building with no thought to how they were going to get data and phones to it. They also didn't budget for the expense. Also, the architect didn't stack the equipment rooms either. They were in opposite corners of the building on the two floors.

What is the intended use of the new addition? Can you use WiFi instead? It would be MUCH cheaper in the end probably.

How many users will be there?

I work in a library, and this addition is to be used as a cargo room. Basically, we are part of a large consortium of libraries, and the libraries lend and borrow books to and from each other.

There will be at least 2 computers here, one phone. I only really 'need' one data and one telephone line ran. It's a fairly small room, and I can run to a switch and run cables from that switch to whatever needs a connection in the room. It will be 1-3 users depending on the day.

The issue with WiFi is that there isn't really a good place to set up a wifi AP down there that would be in range, and, signals just tend to completely die inside of that room. Like I took my cordless phone down there. Worked fine outside the room, but still inside the building, walked into room, dropped immediately. The WiFi router we have in place is less than 100' away, but I get no signal inside the room.

If it's only a few lines, then do it yourself for sure. Just find out if the ceiling is plenum rated.

Shoot, you could buy a pre-terminated patch cable & just run that through the ceiling if you want.

Well, the other thing is, the server room is located one floor up. I'm doing something similar to what you suggested here for our new IP Cameras when we get those, because they are all on the same floor as the server, so I'm just planning on running the data cables for them through the ceiling to wherever they cameras are at (it's a smaller building, so that should suffice).

Thank you for all of the advice. I think I need to come in when we are closed, pull out a step ladder, and start digging through our ceiling and crawlspaces to find out how the hell this place is wired. I have a very vague, general idea, and I think you are right Rusty, there has to be a line somewhere that I could tap into.

Would it be feasible if I found an data line to cut into it, cap each end, and put in a switch that I could then run several lines off of into the new room?

Thank you for all of the advice. I think I need to come in when we are closed, pull out a step ladder, and start digging through our ceiling and crawlspaces to find out how the hell this place is wired. I have a very vague, general idea, and I think you are right Rusty, there has to be a line somewhere that I could tap into.

Would it be feasible if I found an data line to cut into it, cap each end, and put in a switch that I could then run several lines off of into the new room?

You could do that, but then you have a switch stuck in some spot to forget about and 'discover' later when it has an issue. If it's only 1-3 lines, just run them back, if at all possible.

EDIT: It might be a pain/headache now, but later you and those who follow you will be thankful for the centralized nature of it.

Well guys we decided to do it ourselves. The "handyman" of our library who normally works bookmobile helped me out with it. Ended up running a cable all the way from the server room to the new addition. Tomorrow I will go in and put in a wall plate (first time doing that as well, hopefully I don't screw it up too badly) and we will be in business. Thank you for all the encouragement!

I can now add "Ran data cable through ceiling/walls of building" to my resume.

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